It's either presidential or semi-presidential system for Turkey

The Aug. 10 presidential election inaugurated a new era in Turkey. A day after the election, Daily Sabah published short biographies of all the presidents before Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The list showed that seven of the 11 presidents who came before him were retired generals. The days of military coups, with so-called democratic periods in between when the military kept a constant watch over politics, is now over. Just perusing these profiles demonstrates the significance of a politician of non-military background occupying the Çankaya Palace - Turkey's presidential palace.

Furthermore, this was the first time the nation directly voted for its own president. Despite the summer heat, citizens planned their holidays around the election date so they could to vote on Aug. 10. With 74 percent voter turnout, participation levels were much higher than other democratic countries.

For example, only 58.2 percent of the registered voters showed up at the ballot box in the 2012 U.S. presidential election, where Obama won a second term in office by receiving 51.1 percent of the votes. Europeans are more conscientious when it comes to elections. 71.5 percent of the electorate voted in the 2013 German general elections, when Chancellor Merkel won with 41.5 percent support. In Turkey's first presidential election by popular vote, Erdoğan received slightly more support than Obama to become the country's 12th president.

Soon after the election, foreign observers gave their approval for the election, commending the conduct of all institutions involved in the process and declaring that the election was free and fair. Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) representatives praised the professionalism, safety precautions and the smooth running of the Turkish election system. Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, the joint candidate of the secular Republican People's Party (CHP) and far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), and pro-Kurdish candidate Selahattin Demirtaş, congratulated Erdoğan after his victory was assured.

The election is over and Turkish democracy's foundation was proven sound. However, there is still an issue that needs to be settled as soon as possible. Turkey has to decide if it wants to preserve the parliamentary system or to change the Constitution and instate a presidential system.

For the first time in Republican history, we have a president who was directly elected by the people. The president, as it is defined now, has various constitutional rights and powers. The current arrangement can be categorized as a weak semi-presidential system. In this respect, the system in Turkey resembles the one in France, with one crucial difference: the prime minister in Turkey holds wide-ranging executive powers. As long as Erdoğan is president and the AK Party is in power, no conflict should arise. However, if the AK Party is replaced and a conflict emerges between Erdoğan and the new ruling party, a crisis may erupt in Turkish politics, hampering the running of the country.

Therefore, in order to preempt a major crisis in politics, Turkey needs to undergo political transformation and that necessitates a new constitution. Erdoğan or any other head of state elected directly by the people in the future should be able collaborate with his team and the separation of executive and legislative branches need to be made more distinct.

A presidential system is a direct result and requirement of the present state of Turkish politics and is crucial for the establishment of a system of checks and balances. At present, there is an incompatibility inherent in the system because Turkey has a parliamentary system where the president is directly elected by the people. The ruling party and opposition need to cooperate in ending this discrepancy before or soon after the 2015 general elections. Parliament should consider a presidential or at least a semi-presidential system, both of which provide more effective management models.